KASEY CHAMBERS & SHANE NICHOLSON
Rattlin’ Bones
Released September 16, 2008
Aussie songwriting forces Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson have teamed together for the first time to write and record the country and bluegrass infused ‘Rattlin’ Bones’ out September 16th on Sugar Hill Records, their first for the label.
While both artists have successful solo careers in their native Australia and stateside, the husband and wife duo decided to join forces and create a sparsely produced record that highlights the intertwining of two distinct, yet perfectly harmonized voices in a style honoring their musical roots. The result is ‘Rattlin’ Bones’ – a fourteen song LP featuring nine tracks written collaboratively and the remaining tracks written by either Chambers or Nicholson. The album was produced by Kasey’s brother Nash alongside Nicholson and recorded in just a week’s time in Australia.
Get Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson Materials and Downloads Here
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THE DUHKS
Fast Paced World
Released August 19, 2008
Hailed by The New York Times as one of the artists at the forefront of the neo-folk movement, the Duhks continue the evolution with their fourth album, Fast Paced World, (August 19th / Sugar Hill Records). “We traveled from Winnipeg, locked ourselves in a Nashville basement, pooled our ideas together and invented a new sound,” says new frontwoman and bilingual, budding soul queen, Sarah Dugas (she replaced Jessee Havey in 2007).
Produced by Jay Joyce, who joins an impressive line of producers (Béla Fleck, Tim O’Brien) before him, the Duhks have created their most energetic, fully realized, unearthly album to date. Seriously. “Jay’s basement studio was like something out of the Star Trek Enterprise,” adds founder and clawhammer banjoist, Leonard Podolak, who, in the past, “traditionally stuck close to the acoustic sound of our instruments. This record is a beautiful mosaic of different ideas and soundscapes.”
Get Duhks Materials and Downloads Here
**********************DONNA THE BUFFALO
Silverlined
Available July 8, 2008
Donna the Buffalo is twenty years young this year and as energized as ever. Their 7th record, Silverlined, which was released on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 on Sugar Hill Records, builds on Donna the Buffalo’s signature sound — a bedrock of traditional mountain music infused with elements of Cajun, rock, folk, reggae and country. Throughout Silverlined, these undulating rhythms carry the original lyrics, and alternating vocals, of founding members Tara Nevins and Jeb Puryear along a powerful, mesmerizing current.
Get Donna the Buffalo Materials and Downloads Here
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DOC WATSON
Americana Master Series: Best of the Sugar Hill Years
Available July 8, 2008
Doc Watson has been an iconic influence on every acoustic guitar player that has come in his wake. A recipient of the National Heritage Award and the National Medal of Arts, Watson’s contribution to the American folk idiom is immeasurable. For the Americana Master Series, Watson’s Sugar Hill releases - which span over 40 years from 1960 through 2006 - were meticulously combed for the best representation of both the virtuosity that embodies his work, as well as its breadth.
Read more and get album materials here
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RICKY SKAGGS
Americana Master Series: Best of the Sugar Hill Years
Available July 8, 2008
By the time Ricky Skaggs launched his solo career on Sugar Hill in 1979, he’d already amassed a resume that most retirees would envy. He’d been a member of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys and the legendary Country Gentlemen. He’d made vital recordings with his friend and collaborator Keith Whitley. He’d been in Emmylou Harris’s Hot Band, and he’d been part of the pioneering neo-bluegrass band Boone Creek, whose album One Way Track had in fact been Sugar Hill’s first release as a label.
Read more and get album materials here
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THE INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS
The Infamous Stringdusters
Released June 10, 2008
With The Infamous Stringdusters, the award-winning sextet has put on record the dynamic of intimacy and virtuosity that distinguishes their live shows. The album is both a nod to traditions and a challenge to conventions, proving that the Infamous Stringdusters’ combination of innovation and experience has truly molded a new level of newgrass music.
Get Stringdusters Materials and Downloads Here
Official Artist Website
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GIBSON BROTHERS
Iron & Diamonds
Released 4/8/08
On April 8th, 2008, Sugar Hill Records released their fourth album with bluegrass stalwarts The Gibson Brothers. Iron & Diamonds showcases the brothers’ trademark harmonies as well as songwriting that is among the best in the genre. Interspersed with original songs like the title track- a snapshot of the miners’ baseball team in their upstate-NY home- are carefully chosen covers like Tom Petty’s “Cabin Down Below” and others.
Iron & Diamonds boasts the brothers’ best vocal mix to date thanks to being able to record live on one mike, capturing the energy and closeness that concert audiences rave about. The band- Mike Barber on bass, Clayton Campbell on fiddle, and Rick Hayes on mandolin- is tighter than ever, complementing the brothers’ harmonies with adept instrumental performances.
Leigh and Eric Gibson have been performing together since encouraged in their youth by a minister in the borderlands of upstate New York, where they still reside. They received a Best Emerging Artist nod from the IBMA in 1998 and went on to record three albums for Sugar Hill Records- Bona Fide, Long Way Back Home, and Red Letter Day.
Official Artist Website
ANDY HALL
Sound of the Slide Guitar
Digital-only Release: 1/22/2008
Andy Hall plays and sings with excitement, passion, precision and a dynamic that is quickly establishing him as one of the top players in acoustic music today. A founding member of the acclaimed young bluegrass band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Hall won three IBMA awards with the group in 2007 (Best Album, Emerging Artist and Song of the Year) for their debut effort, Fork In The Road. On January 22, 2008, Sugar Hill Records issued a limited release of Hall’s new solo effort, Sound of the Slide Guitar. The album is now available digitally, with CD copies available exclusively from the artist.
On his second solo effort, Sound of the Slide Guitar, Hall brings his skills as player and producer to light. The album also showcases his skills as composer and lyricist, boasting a majority of original tunes alongside just a few covers. Recorded with a host of friends that rank among bluegrass and instrumental music’s most elite (including David Grier, Rob Ickes, Noam Pikelny, Tim Stafford, drummer Tom Giampietro and members of The Infamous Stringdusters) the album showcases Hall as an individual artist and as a collaborator.
Official Artist Website